Definition of "grapnel" []

• Nautical A small anchor with three or more flukes, especially one used for anchoring a small vessel. Also called grapple, grappling. (noun)
• See grapple. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The grapnel is a small anchor, made like four pot-hooks tied back to back."
• "But here, in Arkham City, the grapnel is a star, embracing the sprawling chunk of quarantined Gotham that Batman now prowls, catapulting you across its scrum of industrial brick, filth and rampant criminality."
• "And don't forget - we'd have to send up some kind of grapnel as well, if we want the end to stay up there. '"